By Raliat Adenekan
=President Bola Tinubu told African and global leaders on Tuesday that Africa’s growth is being held back by an unfair international financial system, and urged a restructuring to give the continent affordable access to capital.
Speaking at the Africa Forward Summit at the Kenyatta Convention Centre in Nairobi, Tinubu said Nigeria has taken painful domestic reforms but still faces borrowing costs and credit terms that undermine industrialization.
The summit, co-hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron and Kenyan President William Ruto, drew leaders and officials from more than 30 African countries. UN Secretary-General António Guterres and African Union Commission Chair Mahamoud Ali Youssouf also spoke. On the sidelines, Tinubu held bilateral talks with Madagascar’s President Michael Randrianirina and met Confederation of African Football President Patrice Motsepe, expressing Nigeria’s readiness to host the 2026 CAF Awards.
Tinubu made the case for Africa’s blue economy, offering Nigeria’s Deep Blue Project maritime intelligence infrastructure as a shared data hub for Gulf of Guinea states. He argued that maritime sovereignty attracts investment by creating secure sea lanes, predictable regulation, and functioning courts. Nigeria, he said, is ready to advance climate-aligned port modernization and digital transformation of its maritime sector, and called the shift from “sea blindness” to ocean sovereignty a generational duty.
On finance, Tinubu said Africa exports raw materials and imports processed goods because the current system starves local industry of affordable capital and tolerates illicit financial flows. He noted Nigeria’s reforms—subsidy removal, exchange rate unification, banking recapitalization of over $3.4 billion, and exit from the FATF grey list—have cut the debt-to-GDP ratio to a projected 32.3% in 2026 and raised external reserves to $45.5 billion. Yet Nigeria will spend about $11.6 billion on debt service in 2026, nearly half of projected revenue, crowding out investment in manufacturing, agriculture, and digital industries.
The President also linked migration to economic opportunity, urging partners to fund programs that create jobs and security at home. He said Nigeria supports AU migration frameworks and wants stronger links between regional and global institutions. Tinubu was accompanied by ministers for foreign affairs, finance, agriculture, marine and blue economy, environment, trade and investment, and digital economy, alongside business leaders including Aliko Dangote, Abdulsamad Rabiu, Tony Elumelu, and Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede
